I worked at a pizza joint for a year and a half that paid minimum wage. My paycheck bounced once and there were a few other times that the boss/owner had to give us the checks a day or three late so he'd have funds to cover them.
The minimum wage isn't that high for a large company that has bulk buying power and many locations to spread money around. Where it hurts is for the small business owner.
An example would be a mom-and-pop pizza and pasta restaurant. Being a one-location business, they don't have the bulk buying power of a chain. So the costs associated are rent, electricity, gas, water, food, paper products (napkins, toilet paper), cleaning supplies, dish disinfectant, soda, beer, cable or satellite TV (businesses are charged many more times what a home is charged for cable/satellite, but customers expect the big game), dishes, payroll tax, worker's compensation insurance (based off a percentage of the employees' pay, meaning an increase in pay means an increase in worker's comp), the posters that go in the back room explaining workplace laws and the minimum wage (required to be bought and posted), a current contract with a pest control company, various bank account fees, regular replacement of pots and pans, advertising, the fee a payroll services company (Paychex, for example) charges... add all that together with wages, then see diminishing income from having to discount the pizzas all the time to compete with the big chains with massive buying power.
Minimum wage seems pretty high now, doesn't it?
